When I was 8 years old, I was baptized. I asked the Lord to come into my life and save me from my sin. At that time, I didn’t truly have a grasp on what was next and how walking with God would look different in my life, but I did know that I wanted to follow God. As I got older in my late teens and college years, I lost my way. I started to live in a way that “I” felt was right. And if God didn’t move in a situation the way I wanted him to, I would move for him. I didn’t know how bad of a decision that was at the time, but I see now that it wasn’t just one decision of taking my life’s steering wheel from him, it was the fact that I started to take “ownership” over my life as a habit and had stopped trusting God’s goodness. Fast forward to February 2020, I was asked to give a “My Why” speech at an annual Company meeting. I prayed over what I would say and felt the Lord calling me to share my testimony on my first intervention from the Lord.

 

This first intervention happened in 2009. At that time, I was going through a divorce from my son’s father and was at the lowest point I had ever been in. One night, after I had put my son to bed, I was alone in my room sobbing and crying out to the Lord for help, I told him, Lord I don’t know how I am going to make it” I’m not making enough money to pay all the bills. How am I going to be able to work, keep our home and keep my son cared for?” Can you guess what the Lord said to me? He reminded me that I was the one steering my own life and carrying ALL my burdens. He said to me, “Amanda I give your burdens to me, ALL OF THEM, you can trust me to take care of you.”

 

You’d think this would have been easy for me to do, but I had developed such a bad habit of steering my own life, that I questioned whether he could really take care of me. Fortunately, at that moment I stopped trying to fight the battles I was facing with my own strength and gave them ALL, my doubts, my worries, my fears, and my control over to God. And guess what, he followed through on his

promise to take care of me. Within the next year, I doubled my income, was able to pay the bills, keep our home and keep my son in a quality daycare…. And met my 2nd chance at love, my husband, Jason.

 

Fast forward to Easter Weekend, 2022… I made the decision to rededicate my life to Christ and be Baptized again. Some of you may be asking, why be Baptized again? Well after the February 2020 company meeting where I gave my testimony, I felt a mix of emotions. So many people had come up to me after hearing about God’s intervention in my life telling me how God spoke to them through my story, and how they knew what decision they needed to make in their own life from hearing my story. But for me, I felt like a fraud. I was still feeling like I had been wrestling with fully giving my life to the Lord. That night, as I went outside to be alone with my thoughts, there were scatters of storm clouds outstretched across the sky. I looked out at them with tears in my eyes, I felt the presence of the Lord and Prayed Psalm 51:10 to him “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

 

After that prayer, little did I know the journey that would follow. Not only did we all experience a worldwide pandemic, but that summer I was haunted by a Demonic Spiritual attack. It caused me to have extreme fear in my own home. What I didn’t mention is after I prayed the Psalm 51:10 prayer, instead of turning to read the bible, I naively turned to reading books about Angels thinking that was part of the Spiritual Journey the Lord was leading me on.

 

What the Lord later awakened me to is that there are many false prophets/ False Gods trying to steer our soles away from God and rule over our Earthy lives. Their intent is to try to steer us off course from the plans and Purposes God has for our lives. But GOD is the ONE TRUE GOD. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Beginning, and the End, and Jesus is THE ONE AND ONLY SAVIOR to Eternal Life in Heaven. To have true intimacy with the Lord, we need to spend time with him,

​

in his word and in prayer. The Lord led me to resources to help me do this and through reading the bible and memorizing God’s word, the Fear I had is gone and no longer has any power over me. Amen!

 

My Prayer is that something in my story resonated in your heart and that you know the Lord has a special purpose and plan for your life.